7o8 An Htyjay on Bleaching. 



compofition which thence remit, there is a fpeedy combina- 

 tion of oxygen and carbon. Expofure on the grais facilitates 

 the efcape of the carbolic acid into the atmofpheie. The 

 piints become of a whitjfh gray colour, which is called a 

 flaxen gray. 



It is known that a ley wery flightlv alkaline may be fub- 

 ftituted with advantage for .this long and noxious operation : 

 it is therefore certain that a chamber of from to to 30 feet 

 in length, into which the fteam of alkalino-eauftic water of 

 the ftrength of cue-Jour th of a degree only is introduced, will 

 be fufficient to produce the &me effect as watering, on an 

 immenfe quantity of hemp and flax fufpended on bafket- 

 work, in lefs time and with lefs expenfe than are required 

 for the different manipulations of watering. The loflfes oc- 

 casioned by the negligence of workmen, who, by futfering 

 the hemp and flax to macerate too long, give time to the 

 decomposition to reach the filaments, which renders them 

 brittle and occasions a confiderable wafte, will alfo be 

 avoided. In our procefs the artift can follow every moment 

 the progrefs of his operation, and flop it at the favourable 

 period. 



Hemp and flax, aftei; being watered, muft be dried in a 

 kiln or ftove. A fibrous jkeleton which exhibits a number 

 of fmall tubes, the interior of which is compofed of a fibrous 

 tiffue, and the exterior of a ligneous, will then be obtained : 

 one of theie muft be preferved,,and the other rejected. This 

 is the object of the fubfequent operations of beating, hec- 

 kling, &e. 



The ligneous tiffue, or this bark, as the workmen call it, 

 is thrown away as ufelefs, and a certain portion of the fibres 

 of the hemp and flax, which (till adheres to it, is thus loft, 

 notwithstanding the care of the workmen during thefe dif- 

 ferent manipulations. 



In the neighbourhood of mills, where the operations of 

 beating, heckling, &c. are performed, I have feen heaps of 

 that fubftance thrown away: it cannot be converted, into 

 manure, on account of the long time required for its decom- 

 position; and I have often lamented the lofs of a matter fo 

 valuable, and which might fo . eafily be employed for fome 

 ufeful purpofe. By macerating it in water, and fubjecting 

 it to the other operations of a paper manufactory, it may be 

 converted into pulp proper for the fabrication of every, kind 

 of paper*: it might even be previously bleached, or bleached 

 in the ftate of pulp, by the different proceffes which are the 



* In Britain this fubftance is often fo made ufe of. — Edit. 



object 



